Learning how to just be

Getting used to Senegalese culture can be difficult. I have spent the last 19 months trying to learn how to just BE here. And by that, i mean letting go of the fast paced life i once led back in the states. It has not been an easy task. As an American, i think it has been hard for me to relax and just enjoy whats going on around me. Life here can be slow and at times boring. When i hang out in the village, i have a routine that has become a constan in my life. On days when i dont have much work, i spend the morning at my friend Maymuna's house and the afternoon at Janaba's house. This may sound BORING and for a long time, it WAS boring. Many volunteers find it hard to sit around and do nothing. At home, that would be considered lazy but here... well, thats just part of life. If you arent doing the same thing today as you did yesterday, you are consdiered to be "having fun" which pretty much means, spending money! When i am in the village, it seems like a do the same things over and over... and in fact, i do just that...

At Maymuna's house, i buy my breakfast at their boutique and usually stick around to chat with her mother. She is very educated for a woman for her age. She is always up for a morning conversation. Sometimes its hard for her to STOP talking actually. I think she justs likes attention from me for some reason. After a few hours doing nothing there, i end up across the village at Janaba's house. I usually help out cooking lunch and or doings odds and ends around the house. Dont get me wrong though, i am still to this day treated like an extra special guest at her house. Sometimes i stay for lunch which pretty much means i have to stick around for afternoon tea.... which means i am still there around 4 PM. I usually head home between 4 and 5.

This sounds so boring, i know. But lately, i have learned to embrace it all and just be bored. Its a great feeling to know that i do not have any real responsibilties here. Maybe i shouldnt be saying that, but im just being honest. I mean, i do have work (garden sruff, book mobile, english club, etc) but none of my work is reallly set in stone. I can change my schedule any time i want to without any consequences. I cant even remember the last time i set an alarm clock! This may sound like the ideal life... think again. It has been a real struggle to get used to. Often i feel like my work here is pointless, or unneccesary. American culture leads us to believe that success is everything. Without success, what do we really have? Here, the more successful you are, the more you are expected to give to others. Its a sad thing sometimes. I met a man last week that had just returned from Europe. He drove a nice car and wore nice clothes. He told me when he went home, he had to lie to his family(extended family; he was not married) about where he had been. If they knew he was in Europe, then they would know he was successful in his work and expect more from him. Thats a real shame.

Moving here and taking on a life that was so foreign to me has been challenging but fun too. I know that i will probably never have the option of sleeping in as late as i want and doing whatever i want, whenever i want to do it after i leave Senegal. I wont be able to go to the beach whenever i choose. I will also never be able to cancel class or work commitments at the last minute without consequences. Leaving all of that behind will be hard; however, there will be a lot to gain. I will regain my freedom of speech, my pride in success, and my independance. I will be able to choose who i marry and when i will do it. I will choose my living environment, be gay or straight, stay out late at night or come home early, or use heat or air conditioning. I will be able to eat whatever, whenever i want and have ice in every single glass that i drink out of. I will be able to sleep peaceflly at night without the risk of contracting a deadly disease such as malaria.

Being an American brings on lots of luxuries. But we deal with a lot of responsibilities too. These responsibilities consist of but are not limited to the following: a 9-5, health insurance, car insurance, cell phone payments, and mortgages. Without these things, we wouldnt be able to function correctly in America. All of these things can lead to head aches and worries about where money to pay for these things will come from. But sometimes, just sometimes, the goods outweigh the bads and we find ourselves excited about all the responsibilties of being an American because those responsibilties pave the way for the luxuries.

Part of my commitment to Peace Corps is to teach people in this culture about American life and Americans about Senegalese life. The grass may always seem greener on the other side but next time you are driving to work in your privately owned car worrying about the kids, the bills, the groceries and wishing for a life filled with no responsibilities, think again and count your blessings. Some would kill to be in your shoes.

Things are looking up!

The photo to the right is what a cashew looks like straight from the tree. The nut grows inside an outter shell that sits on top of an apple like fruit. The fruit grows in yellow or red and is edible. It tastes sweet and the texture is nothing like an apple. its actually quite rubbery. The fruits are full of acid and leave me feeling sick every time i eat them. The nuts are pulled off the fruit and are cooked over a fire in the shell. The nuts are full of acid that can burn your skin if the nut is cracked open uncooked (remember what happened to me last year??) The women cook the nuts and then peel off the outer shell leaving what we call a cashew. The outter shell can cause a huge rash (remember what happened to me on a different occasion last year) and many people are extremely allergic to it. Thats why cashews are so expensive. They are very hard to process. I have become very allergic to all parts of the cashew and the fruit. I am staying far away from any form of cashew this year!

Today, i did have my first mango of the season. The hot season came with a vengance and mangoes are already ripening. Mangoes season is a great time of year because i live near lots of mango orchards and that means tasty fruit at all hours!

The school garden is finally up and running. The mason is not quite finished with the well but he finally reached water about 9.5 meters down. The school got really excited about the garden and decided to go ahead and plant in the garden even though the well is not finished yet. they are using a nearby faucet to water the garden. Using the faucet can get expensive so I am hoping this will be extra pressure on the workers to get the well finished asap. The school planted one section o the garden last week and have been watering it faithfully. I hope they keep up the good work!

Book Mobile news: Our driver accidentally backed the truck into a concrete fence and sidewalk area and did some major damage. The fence was in front of a very expensive, nice house. the owner was actually really nice about the whole situation and we are trying to get it all fixed up for him as quickly as we can. The truck is not doing so well. not really because of the situation with the fence, the truck is just old and is in constant need of repairs. David and I have been having real trouble working with the NGO that co operates the Book Mobile with us. The owner is an american lady that takes our work for granted. People at their organization expect a lot out of us and give us absolutely nothing in return. We have continued working with them because the project is a good one that we both believe in. When we take out the truck, the kids make it all worth it. We are trying to get the truck all fixed up by next week so we can take it out Tuesday to start our March run. I kind of have a feeling its not going to happen but im still keeping my fingers crossed.

I am having another volunteer visit me for the next few days. My friend Daniel and I are going on a two day bike ride and hoping to catch up on some swimming in the Mangroves. I havent spent much time their lately and want to hit up the mangrove beach before i leave... Speaking of beach, Ablaye and i had a wondeful weekend in Poppenguine last weekend. We only stayed for 3 days but it was well worth it. The water was freezing but we swam quite a bit. The water ended up being infested with black jelly fish. Thank God neither of us got stung but we did see several other people that did not end up being so lucky. The first time we entered the water we got out to about waist deep and then we noticed that there were hundreds of jelly fish all around us. It was scary but we managed to get past them and stay out where the water was deeper... for some reason they kept getting washed up to where the water was shallow..Im sure there were planty more that we couldnt see but we tried to forget about them and have a good time. Anyway, the beach was great and the weather was perfect!

I hope everyone at home is doing great. i hear the weather is starting to get warmer and people are spending more time outdoors. Also, enjoy your spring break vacations!!!

Lots to do with little time left

I cant believe its already March! The months are coming and going so quickly. This month i have a full schedule. I have less than 3 months left in Senegal so i am trying to get as much work in as possible while i have as much fun as possible. David and I have been working really hard on Book Mobile stuff. We cleaned out the truck today and got rid of old books that were damaged last year during the rainy season. We also are working hard to get the truck fixed up because we got a ticket last month because the drivers side mirror is broken. It was not really a ticket, it was more or less a police officer asking how much money we would give him so he would let us continue on without taking the driver's license.. corruption at its finest! The truck is having some serious mechanical issues also so we are trying to get them all fixed up before taking it out for another run.

the garden project is stil SLOWLY moving along. Its definately not finished and probably wont be by the end of the month. I just hope its finished by the time i leave... never ending battle it seems. i am having a PC agriculture assistant come out this week to talk to the villagers for me to get to the bottom of the problem. I finally figured out that there are a lot of politcal problems in the village. Diagle is sub-divided into two smaller villages that make on large village. The school is right between them both and i have heard that the problems are because each indivivual village does not like to work with the other side. I always knew there was a big divide between the villages but this is taking it to another level. I love teh Diagle side of the village.... unfortunately i live on the other side, Mbaleme. I spend 90% of my time in the village on the Diagle side... usually at a woman named Janaba's house...

Janaba Sarr is the most classy Senegalese person i know. She is my female counterpart and such a great friend. Her door is always open to me and my friends. I feel like she is the one person in senegal that really does not want anything from me other than my friendship. I am going to miss her sincerely when i leave. I do think i will keep in touch with her for a long time though... she reminds me a lot of my grandma back at home.. She is a great cook and always trying to feed me. Janaba has actually helped me learn to cook a lot of senegalese foods. I have really taken an interest in learning to cook the foods i eat here. So far, im not too bad!

Other fun news: I did decide to get on my bike and bike into Kaolack this weekend to get book mobile stuff done. i biked about 40 miles. After the first hour, i realized that the whole bike trip was going to be up hill and biking into the wind. I arrived about 4 hours later. The last hour felt like misery. I have biked this before and without the wind it took less than three hours. The winds here are hard core. Dont forget about the crazy sandstorm i was in last summer!

Plans for the month include: Next weekend i am going on a small mini vacation. Ablaye and I are hitting up another beach that i havent been to yet. We are only going for two nights but its super hot here and the beach is calling my name. The following week, my friend Daniel is coming for a visit and we are biking to a small town not too far away and catching a porogue (small boat) to a nearby island. The island is in the mangroves and has senegals only Eco lodge type campement. we wanna just go for the day and see what the place has to offer. Its always great to take porogue rides through the mangroves too! That weekend, Kaolack is hosting its annual party.. really i dont know what we are celebrating but fom what i hear tha party should be a good one.. lots of food, drinks, and i hear there is even going to be some sort of a DJ or something... who knows how that will end up but i sure am looking forward to it. the follwong week, David and I will be back in the villages with the Book Mobile. The month is going to fly by.

I plan to be back in the states by Memorial Day! im running out of time here and just trying to get through these last few months with good work and good fun. I hope you all at home are getting warmer weather than what i heard about a few weeks ago. Mother Nature is still blwoing our socks off here with temperatures in the 110's every day (already)! This is going to be one HOT HOT HOT dry season!